The breathing anchor so just finding a comfortable position making any movements or adjustments that you need to and be fussy!
It's important to think about self-care as we come to sit for the next few minutes resting into stillness and resting your eyes closed if that feels comfortable for you noticing the senses of the physical body the point of contact with the chair and the floor what's it like to have the force of gravity anchoring you to the ground,
The floor beneath a sense of being held and connected checking in with whatever's going on for us in our minds right now arriving in this very moment with however we are feeling today and that's okay just allowing ourselves to be here and present coming to the breath now where can you feel your breath?
You might notice the sensations in the tips of your nose the airway passages it might be the rise and fall of the chest or the abdomen we don't need to control the rate of the breath just tuning into the body doing its own thing each in-breath inviting us to bring a sense of kindly awareness to the body and each out-breath an invitation to just soften slightly and let go of any tension or holding breathing fully and freely we can notice the sensations around our belly,
The chest the way our clothes touch our skin any sensations at the sides,
The back the whole of the chest moving with each breath any movements in the collarbones or the shoulders just tuning into this process that's always there each breath almost an act of kindness bringing in all this fresh oxygen which you can imagine going to every cell in the body the body's way of naturally nourishing itself paying close attention to the sensations in the body as the air enters in through the nose,
The mouth can we get a sense of that sensation tracking all the way down deep into the bottom of the lungs that sheet of muscle that dome called the diaphragm that sits at the bottom of the chest flattening out with each in-breath and relaxing upwards on the out-breath and just checking in with where the mind is now has it gone off and wandered?
If so,
Then that's okay,
That's just what minds do it's just for us in this practice to notice where our mind is and intentionally but gently come back to the breathing body coming back to the direct felt sensations of breathing each time we guide ourselves back to the breath,
The breathing anchor we can think of as a magic moment of mindfulness a real practiced opportunity of skilfully shifting our awareness back to the present moment each time we do this,
Almost like a mini victory there might be quite strong distractions,
Pains or discomforts in the body we don't need to push them away using the in-breath we can bring this sense of kindly awareness to whatever's going on and continue to just breathe with our experience and where is the mind now?
Again,
Just gently shifting our awareness back to the breathing body a body that's here all the time for us to return to whenever we need it and as we come to the end of the practice now can we bring this sense of presence,
Of awareness into the rest of our days?
And just blinking your eyes open when you're ready,
Making any small movements you need to and coming back to the room
